These new keywords were then added to App Annie ASO module for tracking purpose.

Before the new app version release, these keywords were mostly “out” of the ranking.

THE FIRST ROUND APP STORE KEYWORD OPTIMIZATION

The 1st round ASO was released on Oct 13:

Download Stats:

1 week before 1st ASO: 18

1 week after 1st ASO: 68

Growth: 378%

2 week before 1st ASO: 38

2 week after 1st ASO: 142

Growth: 374%

Observations

Though the numbers are small, the growth rate is consistently over 370%.

Here were the app rankings of the new keywords sorted by highest ranking:

More Observations

The new version was submitted on Oct 12 and approved on Oct 13. It just took one day this time. However, this should not be considered standard.

The new version got in the top 10 of only 3 of our target keywords. The other target keywords are too hard for this app to rank for.

Actions

Perform a second round ASO to replace the non-performing keywords with some new keyword suggestions.

THE SECOND ROUND APP STORE KEYWORD OPTIMIZATION

Using the keyword suggestion tool again, we got a new set of keyword suggestions to replace the non-performing keywords.

The second round ASO was released on Nov 3:

Download Stats:

1 week before 2nd ASO: 59

1 week after 2nd ASO: 266

Growth: 451%

Observations

Though the numbers are small, the 1-week growth rate is over 450%.

Here were the app rankings of the new keywords sort by highest ranking:

More Observations

This time, the new version was submitted on Nov 3 with a bunch of error because iTunes Connect has a major upgrade. The app was approved on Nov 10 (a week later). Nonetheless, the keyword rankings were already updated on Nov 3 in the first submission.

Out of the 15 target keywords, the app got on the top 10 ranking of 9 keywords (60%), compared to only 3 keywords in the first round.

For the remaining 6 target keywords, the app got on the top 30 ranking of 5 of them.

Action

To review the new keyword suggestions again after a week, and perform ASO again.

OVERALL APP STORE KEYWORD OPTIMIZATION RESULTS

Let’s compare the 1-week download count before and after the whole ASO process.

Download Stats:

1 week before the first ASO (Oct 6~12): 18

1 week after the second ASO (Nov 3~9): 266

Growth: 1478% in less than a month!

The downloads had improved by 1478% in less than a month! This was achieved purely by ASO of app name and keywords only. During this period, there were no advertising campaigns or changes of the app codes or contents.

Surprised? It had exceeded our expectation too considering it was a dying app with just a few daily downloads!